Those Simple Changes
by RobinxRaven writer
Summary: Robin never considered himself slow on the uptake (he was a detective after all), but Raven had figured things out long before he did.


Sometimes change is so slow, no matter how perceptive you are, you just _can't _notice what's going on until everything comes together and you have the benefit of hindsight. That's not to say he didn't notice certain things… where Raven was concerned, everything she did was a big deal to him.

For example: One of the earliest changes he'd noticed was that Raven would often go to look for him to let him know dinner was ready. He didn't think much of it the first few times; they didn't happen consecutively, and it's not like letting him know that food was cooked was necessarily a big deal. But then it started happening everyday. He could be in the gym or in his room, or doing paperwork on one of the lower floors, she'd find him, and they'd walk back up to the common room together. Once even, she'd made her to the elevator to go looking for him, but he'd made his way up the stairs at the same time looking for her, so they'd spent a good five minutes looking around for each other until Raven had given up and teleported to him.

But again, there was no telling how things would end up simply because she made sure he was present for dinner. (It wasn't like either of them missed meals often either, so of course they were usually together then too.)

A larger clue that again went unnoticed was that she often came down to the investigation room, either to help with paperwork or if there was an actual case to work on, she'd often help where she could. He did notice this time, because not once in the last four years had she offered her help down here, but Robin could clearly remember what case he was on, what clue she'd helped him with… Normally, if he was stuck downstairs too long Starfire (and rarely Beastboy) would come and pull him away, or Cyborg would come down and offer to help out with some thing or another, but Raven offering to help with something she'd never done… of course he would notice that. But he never questioned why, and he knew Raven well enough by then not to call her on her acts of kindness otherwise she'd disappear into her room for a few days.

Just like he knew to only give a quiet thanks when he woke up in the morning and she'd prepared coffee for him. As near as he could tell, she was only up earlier than him by chance most of the time. And for a long time she would usually decline his offer of breakfast and read from her spell books or the morning paper on occasion. Then one day he'd come into the common room after showering and saw that the coffee was freshly brewed, while Raven was buttering a piece of toast. He'd said good morning and thanked her for making the coffee, and that was all there was to it.

And at the time, it was when he first noticed the first fading of blue from her cloak, the whitening of the black leotard she wore. Just barely, not more than a couple of shades, but it was the earliest he could remember her clothes changing colour. He'd thought nothing of it, thinking that maybe it had faded in the wash. Or maybe she'd just gotten a new set of uniforms that were slightly different in colour. Something simple like that. Oblivious as ever, he had no idea what was in store ahead of him.

Of course, as oblivious as he may have been, there was no missing the fact that Raven had taken over his room at some point as well. He'd walked in one day to see her leaning back against the headboard of his bed, a candle lit on his desk and a mug of tea on his bedside table. She looked incredibly comfortable, to the point where he felt bad having to clear his throat and ask, "What are you doing in here?"

Raven looked up lazily. "I should think that would be obvious." She said with minor sarcasm, raising the book in her hand.

He bit back a laugh, but couldn't stop himself from smiling. "I meant," He stepped into his room and the door closed behind him with a swish, "Why are you doing it in here?" He clarified with a bit of humour in his tone, walking over to his bed.

"Because Beastboy was at my door, trying to get me to go out into the common room for a TV show or something. I didn't feel like going out there, so I came in here." She explained with a light shrug.

Nodding, Robin sat down on the edge of his bed, leaning back against his headboard as well and leaving a couple of feet between himself and Raven. "And you chose my room because?"

"Because I didn't want to go into Starfire's room since it would be counter intuitive to my goal of not socializing right now, and Cyborg's room has the same problem as the rest of the Tower: it's not a comfortable place to relax in. So I came in here, because I doubt Beastboy would come looking to bother me in your room, considering you only ever use it to sleep in." She gestured to the room around them, apparently in an attempt to point out that there were no decorations, but its not like he needed her to tell him that. "Satisfied, or do you want me to leave?"

Robin shook his head. "You can stay in here." He'd told her, not really aware of the effect it would have. "Consider it a sanctuary when your room is no longer safe." He added dramatically. Raven had rolled her eyes at that, a small smile appearing for a moment before she returned her attention back to her book. He hadn't noticed since he stood up and left, but Raven's outfit had changed again, and _she_ noticed. But she didn't really care. She just accepted it for what it was.

She hadn't been in his room since, as far as he could tell. At least not for nearly three weeks. But one day, when it was raining out, Robin found himself beyond exhausted for whatever reason and decided to take a nap for an hour or two. But when he went into his room, he saw that Raven had pulled his chair away from his desk and was sitting in front of the window. She turned around when she heard the door open, crossing one leg over the other. "Beastboy bothering you again?" He asked, raising a hand to point. Raven shook her head and turned her attention back out the window, and he waited for her to say something. When she didn't, he pulled off his gloves, cape, and boots, and then fell onto his bed with a sigh.

"Mind if I sit beside you? This chair isn't very comfortable." Raven called out quietly from across the room.

"That was the idea." Robin yawned, closing his eyes as he moved over and patted the bed beside him. "Keeps me from sitting in it for too long." She didn't respond, but a moment later the bed shifted. He opened one eye to glance at her, but Raven wasn't looking at him. She was still watching the storm outside, but her gaze was unfocused. Not in a bad way, he realized as he saw the gentle rise and fall of her shoulders, how calm her expression was as she lost herself in thought. As long as she was okay, he thought to himself, he could rest easy. The added warmth of her nearness drew his attention back to his drowsiness, and his eyes drifted shut.

The next time he was in his room with her, Raven had taken him completely by surprise in that simple way she was known to do: "You have a laptop?" Robin asked her as sat beside her. "I didn't know you had a laptop." He was unable to keep any surprise out of his voice; he could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen her use the computers in the common room. Not to say she wasn't tech savvy or anything, he just didn't expect her to own her own laptop, but her name was clearly labeled on the back, along with a _'do not touch or your soul will be ripped from your body'_ warning underneath.

"Sometimes a one minute internet search is more enticing than looking through age old tomes for hours on end." She mumbled. "But that's not what I'm using it for right now." She said as Robin peered over her shoulder. "Cy signed up for one of those websites where you can watch movies, and he lent me his account information, so…" She trailed off, knowing he could put two and two together.

"Think you can lend me his info too?" Robin asked in as innocent a tone as he could muster.

Raven snorted. "And what movies would you watch, might I ask?"

"Allow me." Robin lifted his hand over the keyboard, and with a nod signifying her permission, typed in a movie that had come out a few years ago that he'd felt like rewatching lately. Moving around and adjusting themselves, Robin parted his legs on either side of Raven, and Raven leaned back against him. After a moment of debate, he rested his hands across her stomach, and her hands came to rest on top of his. Raven sat the laptop to the side of them, and he was able to rest his chin lightly on her shoulder and be comfortable at the same time.

It turned out that even though he'd wanted to watch the movie, he'd gotten too comfortable too quickly and then fallen asleep. When he awoke the following morning, it clicked with him that he'd fallen asleep _holding_ Raven and he was awake instantly because it only took a fraction of a second to realize that she was still there with him. In the bed. _In his bed._ He realized what position they were in and blushed straight to the tips of his ears, gently pulling himself away from Raven and trying to leave quietly. They may have been good friends, but he knew she wouldn't hesitate to rip his arms off if she'd woken up first.

When he saw her later that day, he'd acted casual, and luckily Raven apparently felt the same way, because she did not bring up what had happened. He half expected not to see Raven in his room for a great deal of time after that, but curiosity got the better of him most days when the Titans didn't leave the Tower and all it took was a quick look to find out that she was still in there, either meditating or reading or napping or inspecting whatever she could find.

However, it was a long time before they ended up falling asleep together again. It was a late night for both of them, and when Raven had asked if it was okay to sleep beside him, he'd agreed mostly because he was tired and had no real reason to say no. But the next morning as they watched the sunrise together, and he impulsively wrapped his hand around her waist when their shoulders bumped and she turned to look at him, he realized that they'd been spending a great deal of time together as of late. Nearly every second of the day, as a matter of fact. If he wasn't busy practicing in the gym and neither of them were spending time with the other three Titans, he realized that she was with him most of the time.

Like now, as he looked at her and saw that her cloak matched the pale blue of the dawn and her leotard was the same light gray of the clouds. Not even after Trigon had she come up here to watch the sunrise with him, and then one day that had changed too, so simple a thing in nature and yet all the more impactful because Robin realized that when she was gone, even if only for a few minutes, he started missing her. And then when she walked back into the room, he felt the immediate and strange urge to stand and go to meet her, no matter how many times he suppressed his desire to do so.

Raven realized that Robin was looking at her, and turned to him with her brow raised slightly. "What?"

He didn't know what to say or how to say what he wasn't sure to say, so he blinked once and turned his attention back to the horizon, thinking about how it paled in comparison to the girl on his right.

It took a few more days before her uniform went completely white. It was mostly white, to be fair, and the others had called her out on it long before he did, but as they retreated to his room after dinner he was finally unable to suppress his curiosity and asked, "Why do your clothes do that? Turn white when you're happy?"

Raven had simply shrugged. "I don't know. I wish that they didn't, I like the original colours more. But I guess it can't be helped." The door closed behind them, and Raven floated over to the bed.

"What's got you in such good spirits by the way?" He'd asked. Oh, what a fool. He was a detective that solved crimes and stopped bad guys for a living, and yet with everything that had been going on between him and Raven he still asked.

She'd of course looked at him like he was stupid, but only for a split second before she smiled a real smile, one that was incredibly rare and stole his breath away even if she didn't mean too, even before she moved back to him and kissed him, wrapping her slender arms around his neck and holding him close. At first she thought about just telling him outright, but a part of her knew that the only thing left was to show him, and in all honesty it got the point across much quicker.

Maybe it was because they'd been spending so much time together lately, but somehow the kiss didn't shock him as much he thought it would and he was able to return it, dipping her slightly as his hands rested on her hips. The distance between them erased completely as the kiss intensified, lasting just a few more seconds before they pulled back at the same time. Robin opened his eyes just to see the last shades of blue and black fade from her uniform, and he smiled a little as he caught his breath.

He should've seen the signs earlier, and really he had no excuse for his blindness about what was happening, but now that things were clear between them, his only thought was, _"She looks beautiful in white."_


End file.
